The First AmericansThe First Americans

88thth Grade United States History Grade United States HistoryLet’s learn

about the Ice

Age!!

Vocabulary Words to KnowVocabulary Words to Know

• Beringia• Nomads• Migration• Ice Age• Maize• Culture• Artifacts• Archaeology• Carbon Dating

Where did the first Americans come Where did the first Americans come from?from?

• They came during the Ice Age around 20,000 years ago.

• They traveled across Beringia (land bridge connecting Asia and North America).– Light Brown (then)=Land– Light Brown (now)=Water

• They came from Siberia (Russia).

BeringiaBeringia

• They crossed over on a land bridge made of ice from Siberia to Alaska. This land bridge is called Beringia.

What were the reasons for coming What were the reasons for coming to North Americato North America

• They were following large game

– Mammoths/Mastodons

– Buffalo/Bison

– Saber-Tooth Tigers

• They came in a MIGRATION.- A large group of people moving from one place to another

• They were Nomads -People who move from place to place without a stable home

• This migration took centuries. They were nomads in search of food. They hunted bison and mammoths using stone tools

What happened at the end of What happened at the end of Ice AgeIce Age

• About 15,000 years ago the earth’s temperature began to rise and the ice melted. Cut off the first Americans from Asia. The mammoth and other large animals began to die out.

What was the Ice Age?What was the Ice Age?

Extremely cold temperatures on Earth.

Much of the oceans were frozen into ice sheets, or glaciers.

Sea levels were lowered.

Lower sea levels exposed large areas of the seabed (ground).

People and animals can move across the land, which was once covered by water.

What was covered by ice?What was covered by ice?

Representation of Europe during Ice Age

Green- land

Blue- water

White- ice/snow

Representation of North America during Ice Age

The “cloud” represents areas that were ice/snow

during the Ice Age.

What did they do when the What did they do when the animals died out?…animals died out?…

– 1.Learn to fish– 2.Hunt smaller game (deer, rabbits, squirrels,

etc…)– 3.Begin planting seeds

A New Way of LifeA New Way of Life

• N/A’s in modern day Mexico discovered how to breed plants like corn around 8,000 B.C. – called maize

• Population grew rapidly as a result• Pumpkins, beans, squash, tomatoes, and

potatoes were all developed by N/A’s

STONE AXE

Ceramics- anything made of clayTextiles- anything woven with fiber

Cooked foodDugout canoesProtection from animalsLight at night or in caves

N/A’s did not have horses until Europeans arrived, they either walked or used canoes

Early N/A’s hunted large game like wooly mammoth. Later, hunted deer, buffalo, and other smaller animals

•Skilled archer could hit targets from over a thousand feet away

•One person can carry dozens of arrows

•B and A-big improvement over spear

How do historians know so How do historians know so much?much?

• They use carbon dating - measures the amount of carbon that remains in something. This can tell us the age of something.

• They use artifacts, which are things left behind by early people.

• They study archaeology, the study of ancient cultures.

• Classwork/Homework;

• Chapter 1 section 1

• Complete reading check on page 18 and reading check on page 19.

• Complete section assessment on page 19 #’s 2,3,5

• Finish Textbook scavenger hunt for homework

Central and South American Central and South American PeoplesPeoples

• Large civilizations began in South and Central America.

• A. Olmec (12,000bc) Mexico

• B Maya replaced the Olmec (400bc)

1. lived in Central America and Mexico

2. Society was ruled by religious leaders(theocracy)

3. Developed a calender and used hieroglyphics.

Central and South American Central and South American peoplespeoples

• C Aztec (250-1500AD) Mexico

1. Capital was Tenochtitlan

2. Great warriors

• D Inca (South America) 1200

1. Capital was Cuzco

2. Largest of the 3

North American PeoplesNorth American Peoples

• Civilizations in North America began 3,000 years ago. Evidence of the first NA in North America was in the Southwest.

• The Hohokam- Arizona• B. The Anasazi (Utah, Colorado, Arizona,New

Mexico) They built dwellings in the walls of steep cliffs

Pueblo Bonito- New MexicoPueblo Bonito- New Mexico

Mesa Verde - ColoradoMesa Verde - Colorado

Mound BuildersMound Builders• Region extending from Great Lakes to

Gulf of Mexico

• Adena, Hopewell, Mississippians

• Built earth mounds as burial chambers for important people and Chiefs

• Largest earth mound is in Illinois called Cahokia

• Local example is Lake Jackson Mounds built by the Appalachee

CahokiaCahokia

Regions of Native AmericansRegions of Native Americans

• People of the North: Canada and Alaska Inuit• People of the West: California and West Coast Tlingit, haida, Chinook, Nez Perce, Pomo,

Shoshone• People of the Southwest: Hopi, Acoma, Zuni, Apache, Navajo• People of the Plains: Dakota

• People of the East and Southeast: Iropuois, Cherokee,Mohawk, Creek, Chickasaw,

Cherokee, Seminole• First People of Florida:TimucuaApalacheeJeagasTequestaCalusaTocobaga

• Warm-up

• Page 27 1-5. Put your answers on a sheet of paper in your warm-up section of your notebook